Thiel Owners

Much Thanks! guys-

everyone has been very helpful. Yes, I will welcome any comments, thoughts or impressions on Thiel and the gear that makes them great!

Pops, you nailed it on timbre' and tone- this is the upper hand of these speakers, IMO.

Thank You! dgarretson for the "special sauce" of this SE loudspeaker.

Do you own Thiel speakers? Have you DIY'ed the ESA product(s)?
Or know someone whom has performed this mod?

Keep me posted & Happy Listening!

How about Thiel 2 2s (no decimal point)? Mine are 20(!) years old now, and whenever I hear another pair of speakers that sound really good, I go back and listen to the 2 2s, and realize that, nah, it really doesn't get much better than this, at least not for any rational amount of money. I drive them with a Classé CA-200 amp connected with Kimber 8PR cables. The system also includes a Mirage BPSS-210 sub, and its active tune-able crossover crossed @ 60 Hz, which isn't loud but is undistorted and remarkably flat and enables the system to go cleanly well below 20 Hz. State of the art at the time, and still darn good! Not so good with most turntables, however. Infrasonic TT rumble can make the sub nuts to the point I have to take it out of the system.

I haven't spent much time auditioning the newer Thiels since I bought the 2 2s, but at the time it was certainly the case that Thiel speakers in general, being rather inefficient and often a bit challenging to drive, were decidedly best with solid-state amplification. Pairing them with a Classé amp was, and likely still is, a match made in audio heaven.

^classe and Thiel classic for sure.  Congrats on knowing what you like and liking what you know!!!  Rare amongst audiophiles.  

jafant...
I've driven my Thiels (2.2,  3.1,  and currently 3.5's) with both tube and solid state amplifiers and have found that they are excellent with either.  The one complaint I have with these "vintage" (minty!,  in eBay parlance) designs is the speaker cabling,  specifically where Thiel located the binding posts themselves.  On the bottom!

This rules out using the "garden hose" variety of speaker cables since keeping them off of the floor proved to be problematic.  I've used Goertz Alpha Core,  Transparent Music Waves,  and now I have AntiCables level 3 - which I've long been a fan of.  That aside,  very few loudspeakers have impressed me as much as Thiels do.  My 3.5's are full range,  20hz - 20khz,  and I've never used a subwoofer.  They still continue to deliver outstanding sonics.

I think my favorite match up with mine was a Pass Labs X150.5,  150 watts into 8,  300 watts into 4 ohms which the Thiels are.  My listening level is very conservative,  and I've had fun listening with a McIntosh MC275 Mark VI tube amplifier,  75 watts per channel into virtually any load.  Also a Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum integrated,  100 watts per channel.  In retrospect I think I have to give the nod to the Pass Labs.  Having all that extra headroom made me believe I was treating them right even if my listening level wouldn't stress a modest amp.

I've just purchased a Peachtree Audio 220SE integrated which will out put 350 watts into 4 ohms for the heck of it.  (Pretty good deal direct from them.)  I'm also looking at an Audio Research 300.2 amplifier - which is class T,  capable of 500 watts per channel into 4 ohms.  

One thing I will never do is part with my 3.5's again.  The first pair I owned I gave to my nephew when I purchased a pair of Counterpoint Clearfield Metropolitans,  an Alfred Von Schwiekert design.  They were physically HUGE speakers.  A few months ago I found another pair of the 3.5's right here not he gone and bought them without contacting the seller first.  Regardless of price Thiels are some of the best loudspeakers out there.  I love 'em.  Good luck with yours!